Last night was another great night of connecting.  I'm always amazed at how excited everyone is when they're participating in Speed Networking.

Many thanks to Java G's for keeping the doors open an extra 3 hours.  Hopefully, you got as much benefit as we all did.

This event was the first event I actually took part in the networking line.  Mitch Matthews and I traded places about halfway through and let me tell ya... It was fun!  Funny thing was that I knew most all of the people I spoke with already, but I always enjoy re-connecting and finding out how everyone is doing.  Again, I heard whispers of people gaining great leads and some that even gained new clients.  Did somebody say economic output?

We're going to keep 'em coming!

Here is what Wade Den Hartog had to say...

This morning I had the awesome opportunity to be interviewed on BlogTalk Radio by Rush Nigut of Sullivan & Ward in West Des Moines, IA.  We had the interview at 9:30AM this morning and if you live in the Midwest; you probably know that it was ICY this morning.  Well, as I left my house, I forgot that ice pellets had been pounding my window all night last night.  Needless to say, as I rushed out to my truck, I Charlie Brown'ed myself worse than I ever have in my life. (I broke my streak of several winters without falling)  Both hands were in my pockets and it was all I could do to spin... in mid-air mind you and not land on my head.  I did, however, land evenly on my right side and only sustain minor damage to my shoulder and major damage to the ego.  I'm sure my neighbor had coffee shoot through his nose after watching that one.

I made it to work though and had a great conversation with Rush.  Click here for a listen or check out Rush's blog, he's got some great ideas to help drive a solid conversation.  Thanks for the opportunity!

Once again, the early morning blogging seminar has made me realize I'm not using technology to its fullest potential.  Mike Sansone held this one at Dahl's on Hickman avenue, which is conveniently 1 mile away from my house.

Part of the presentation was on Linked In and the almighty GreatNews Feed reader.  These two tools have unbelievable potential.  Here are a couple real world examples...

1. We need access to a food buyer of a major retailer, let's pretend its Target.  Mike does a quick Hoover's search to find a name within that organization and department.  He copies the name and pastes it into Linked In.  Little do we know that I am Linked In with a person that is 2 connections away from the Target food buyer.  Coincidence?  Or just good networking? To me, that is utilizing a great tool to create a warm lead.
2. Let's pretend you're an insurance agent or better yet... a relationship manager for a small, medium or large company.  Part of your job is to track clients and/or potential clients.  If you were to search for a particular lead, you could copy that search and paste it into your feed reader.  Once you do this, you will never have to search for that person/lead again.  The feedreader will prompt you automatically if anything is posted about that person/lead on the Internet.  This is very a efficient way to congratulate, acknowledge or even provide damage control for someone/thing you are keeping tabs on.

In my opinion, we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg and businesses that truly want to experience growth need to be accessing these tools.  And if you can't learn it on your own, do what I did and hire Mike Sansone.

Recently, Timothy Johnson an author, professor and all around good guy challenged me with a question...  Why do I blog?  Well Tim, here goes nothing...

First of all, I had never even heard of blogging until I met Mike Sansone roughly two years ago.  After meeting Mike, it only took me a year and a half before I understood what blogging is.  So, after six months of blogging and hearing from my favorite local blog coach: "don't say you're not a tech guy" and "you should post once a day" or "you're not linking out"... here are some (probably not all) of the reasons I blog:

1. Transition Capital Management's (TCM) business model is based on connectivity.  Blogging allows me to connect to others very easily and efficiently at a low cost.  I need to meet private business owners and blogging increases my chances of that happening.
2. Drive traffic to the TCM website.  Our website is very wordy, but it is loaded with good information that businesses and investors can learn from.
3. Put a face and personality to TCM.  I received an e-mail other day and a person said "I got to your blog from your website and realized... maybe I can contact these guys."  That told me that blogging gave our website a personality.  (hopefully a good personality!)
4. Listen to what others are saying.  Blogging is not just writing.  Blogging is also listening to the marketplace.  This allows me to keep my finger on the pulse of potential trends within any industry.
5. Makes TCM findable.  When businesses of any size are going through a transition... I need them to find us and ask us if we have resources that can get them to the next growth stage.

And last but certainly not least...

Because Mike Sansone said so.  I meet with privately owned businesses everyday.  It is very hard to find a company that cannot use Mike's expertise.  I mean seriously... if you're not listening to Mike, your missing out on huge growth potential in your business no matter what industry it's in.

I'd like to hear from Matt and Nate Owen, Rush Nigut, Dr. Anthony Davis and Dan Maiers ...

I've heard the definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results." or something like that.

Anyway, today I forgot that it was supposed to snow 150 inches last night and I went about my regular routine.  I got up, showered, put some sweats on and went outside to warm up my truck.  Once out the door I quickly realized I'd forgotten something... it had snowed 150 inches last night.  So, I put on my boots, hat and coat and started shoveling the sidewalk.  Well, I instantly broke into a sweat and thought "crap" now I have to shower again.  So after 40 minutes of shoveling I went inside, re-showered and re-dressed myself.  As I walked back outside to my already warm truck, I saw 150 more inches of snow falling... all over the sidewalk I just shoveled.  Needless to say, I wasted one perfectly good shower, destroyed my lower back, wasted about 2 hours of my life.

What does THIS story have to do with business?  Again, it may be a stretch, but here we go again:

If your business, organization or entity is having trouble getting over the hump or has reached a stagnant growth period, look at what you've done over and over again and figure out a way to alter the outcome. 

I watched 5 companies and 1 organization present their business models last night.  It was the first time I've seen someone ask for resources and not money.  Was it a success?  I don't know.  From the looks of it; 12 hours later at least one business has been given an opportunity to lower production costs.  If that helps their business grow, then that is a success in my book.

From now on, I'm not going to shovel the walk when it's snowing.  I'm going to alter the outcome by waiting until the storm has passed.  For businesses and organizations... I challenge you to look beyond the norm.  You may see an opportunity to create the perfect storm.

Tonight will be the second meeting of SEMEE "Society For Entrepreneurial Minded Executives."  This should prove to be another very interesting meeting.  We've got several companies ready to present and have a representative from an area economic development group ready to go as well.

I'm confident that the business models on-stage will spur some amazing thought in the attendees minds.  The event is meant to be highly interactive, so if you plan on coming make sure you speak up and ask questions.

Click here for the details.

Last night was the unveiling of the University of Iowa's intern/mentoring initiative.  Here's the link to the Des Moines Register's article by Frank Vinluan.  I had the opportunity to align current U of I students with business professionals operating in the Des Moines area.  I had one major challenge... we have too many area professionals that want to be mentors! Now, that is what I call a world class problem. 

Each mentor that was in attendance (we only needed 16) had an amazing set of business skills and real-world experience.  Another quality they possess is high ethical standards that have allowed them to flourish in their personal practices.  I wish we had 50 interns living in Des Moines right now, but we'll get there.   And when we do, I guarantee there will be at least 50 mentors ready to take them under their wing.

Based on the enthusiasm of everyone involved, I'm confident that this will be a huge success.  Many thanks to the U of I and all the mentors out there.

The other day I was in-between meetings so I attempted to catch up on some phone calls.  I parked in the parking lot of Hy-Vee and decided to open my brand new, partially frozen bottle of water.  Well, I don't know if anyone else knows this but be advised:  even water can explode from a bottle.  I laughed to myself until I realized that I had water soaked onto the front of my pants and had ten minutes to dry out.  So, I made the most of it.  I walked into my meeting, made fun of myself and it made for a great conversation starter.  Not the conversation I was going for, but I'll take it.

How or why did I blog about that?  It's a stretch but here goes...

Expect the unexpected and if life throws you a curveball; make the most of it.

I'm not pretending to be a deep thinker and wet pants isn't the end of the world, but do your best to remain positive and at least attempt to create something out of a bad situation.  I get frustrated everyday, but about the time I start to get down... instantly my business is affected.  And if my business is causing me heartburn... ask anyone and they'll tell you my personal life is affected too.

Sometimes the littlest things irritate me.   One thing in particular is when a waiter/waitress takes my plate before I have a chance to eat the pickle.  The pickle is one of the best parts of the meal.  It's like the bag of chips getting thrown away before you put your dip covered spoon in the crumbs or tossing the Lucky Charms box away with some extra marshmallows still inside.  It's very depressing and downright irritating.   Now, before you say "if that's the worst thing you have to worry about then..."  I don't let the pickle thieves ruin my day and the jumpy trashperson doesn't keep me up at night.  These types of situations can be translated into business.

All of these revolve around listening.  If you ask a question, make sure to listen to the response and make sure they finish their thought.  In the pickle case for example, more often than not the waiter or waitress will say, "Are you finished?" at the exact same time they are picking up my plate.  I could easily say "Wait, wait, I'm not done yet.  Give me that pickle back." but I'm not going too because I tend to be a pretty easy going guy and I think that may seem a little weird.  Instead, one part of the meal that I enjoy has been taken from me.  That may cause just enough irritation for me not to return to that particular location.

Before you decide to throw an idea out or jump to conclusions... make sure you've got as much information as possible.  You may not have had a chance to see all the angles.

Personally, one of my many flaws is finishing others' thoughts.  I was in lunch yesterday and I thought I was right on track with the other persons thought.  Well, I said what I thought was coming and I got a blank stare.  Oops!  Who knows what was coming?  The person across from me does.  In this situation, I didn't allow the conversation to unfold because I didn't let the person finish.  I may have had an opportunity pass me right by.

For companies/business owners, make sure you hear what others say and react when they give you their story.  If you react too soon,  you may miss the opportunity to satisfy a need.

My humble advice:

Listen to what and who is around you; you'll be amazed at what you'll learn and create